


Lifeline

by lesbonaruto



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Haruno Sakura, BAMF Karin, Fight Scene, Gen, Genjutsu, Haruno Sakura is So Done, Haruno Sakura-centric, Inner Sakura - Freeform, Little bit of humor, Mokuton, Mokuton User Haruno Sakura, Naruto AU, Oneshot, Sakura being Badass, Sakura being a water/earth jutsu specialist, Sakura vs Sasuke: the showdown, Strength of a Hundred Seal, Strong Haruno Sakura, all my fics sorta start out as crack fics, rewrite of chapter 482, she gets some action too, so you can see the places where it devolved into silliness, some violence but nothing too graphic, sorry about the length i really got carried away..
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:53:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25101205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbonaruto/pseuds/lesbonaruto
Summary: If Sasuke’s an avenger, she’s an avenging angel. The one where Karin watches as Sakura saves her life and pummels the last Uchiha.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Karin, Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 25
Kudos: 456
Collections: Real Good Shit, THE naruto fic list, Team 7 🌀, why im sleep deprived 💖✨





	Lifeline

**Author's Note:**

> i just wanted to write Sakura being a badass... but lord help me fight scenes are hard.

She lay on the bridge, life bleeding out of her side. She had hit her head badly as she fell, and the gash from a few days prior had opened up. Her tears cut red tracks across her cheeks. 

Karin could feel herself fading. She was too far gone to heal herself. And even if she did manage to bite her arm, Sasuke would kill her in an instant. The last thing she would ever see would be Sasuke’s red, unforgiving eyes. Was this what her life amounted to? Chasing after the shadow of a man who could never love her in return-- was this even love, what she felt? Karin didn’t know anymore. She had latched on to him for the same reason she latched on to anyone; survival. He was strong, he had power, she needed to take advantage of that. She’d been latching on to powerful men to survive since before she can remember; it is the way of the world when you are a valuable woman. 

Valuable. Like she was worth some amount of money. Like she was an object that could be traded or bargained for. Karin felt disgust rise in her stomach, clawing its way into her throat and making her gag. That’s all Sasuke saw her as; value. She was a sensor, a tracker, an Uzumaki. In his eyes, she wasn’t fit to be a person. As she lay dying, Karin felt a whole range of emotions overtake her. She was filled to the brim with equal parts rage and fear; she was disgusted, both at him and herself, and she felt sadness and pity towards the lonely Uchiha. 

A woman appeared on the other side of the bridge, a beacon of hope. Her hair the color of cherry blossoms, swaying in the wind. Her skin was brown and hardy, like the trunk of a tree, and she was dressed in a white cloak. On her forehead was a purple diamond tattoo. 

Sasuke seemed to deem her reason enough to shift his attention. For now, Karin’s life was spared. They were...talking. Although that seemed almost too mundane a term to use. There was a tension in the air, an electric vibration that seemed to pass between them. Karin couldn’t quite hear what they were saying; the ringing in her ears drowned everything else out, but she could see the girl’s face. She looked determined. The ringing died down a bit, enough that she could pick out pieces of their conversation. 

“....defection… Konoha…. teammate… power…” Ah, so that was it. An old teammate. Come to join him, to reconcile? Or to put an end to this madness?

Karin hoped that this woman had some speck of compassion. She didn’t want to die. “Please,” she coughed out, trying to speak through the blood in her throat. “...help.”

The woman’s eyes zeroed in on her. She felt the full force of her clear green stare. In those eyes she did see compassion, as well as desperation. Karin knew she was interrupting something here, but she was bleeding out by the minute. If she had any chance of living, seeing as Sasuke’s whim decreed her dead, it would be this woman. She was her lifeline. 

She felt the vibrations of Sasuke’s reply. “... join me ... kill her.” Those four words took with them Karin’s last dregs of hope. So that was the situation. She was on his side. And that meant Karin was fated to die. As if to spite her, the ringing died down. Now she could make out what they were saying. 

The woman drew closer. “You want me to kill her? Someone I don’t even know? What, so I can prove my loyalty to you? That’s utter--”

His voice rumbled again. “Do it, Sakura. She dies anyway. Do it, to prove your resolve.” So her name was Sakura. Very fitting. The last thing she would see was her pink locks and Sasuke’s back, the Uchiha crest embroidered in red. The same color that stained the ground around her. Karin lay back, looked at the sky, and got ready to die. 

Someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned her head to the side and saw Sakura, crouching behind her. She put her finger to her lips, demanding Karin’s silence. Karin nodded her head, but looked back at the bridge in confusion. The woman was still standing there, facing Sasuke, so… a clone? But how had she done it with no hand signs? It would take an incredible amount of concentration and chakra mastery… Sakura placed her hands on Karin’s midsection, and they glowed green. A medic! But was this girl really risking her opportunity to join Sasuke, just to save an unknown woman’s life? They were sure to be caught, Sasuke had his back to them and was focused on something else but the instant his attention turned back to her…

Sasuke moved so fast she couldn’t track his motions. One minute he was in front of her, with his back facing her, and then next he was behind the Sakura on the bridge, kunai pressed to her throat. He must have known, he must have seen everything. They were both dead. 

Instead of panicking, the Sakura still crouching beside her continued her healing. She seemed unbothered by her counterpart’s dilemma. The two made eye contact, nodded slightly, and then the clone picked her up bridal style and carried her off the bridge. Sasuke didn’t seem to care. 

“You shouldn’t have done that.” Sasuke said, in a low growl. “You’re a fool if you think I’ll spare your life for old time’s sake.” He pressed the kunai into her neck a little more, drawing blood. A shallow cut, but a cut nonetheless. The blood welled up at the tip of the blade, blossoming almost like a flower. 

“Oh, Sasuke.” Sakura said, still sounding confident and unshaken. “You’re the fool if you think killing me will be that easy.” 

He cut her throat. Blood-- red and plentiful-- spilled out. Karin could see the inside of her gaping throat, see the veins and tissue of her neck. She fell, with a look that was so serene it almost didn’t seem like she was dead. Her body hit the ground with a soft thud, and Karin drew her eyes away from the sight. 

Sasuke seemed equally shocked. He stared, wide eyed, at his hands and seemed to be muttering to himself. He too seemed to be avoiding looking at the body. 

Karin felt the pain in her side throb a little less. She turned to her side and saw Sakura’s clone wink at her, finger at her lips. One hand was still pressed to her side, glowing green and healing in its wake. So was the other one a clone? Or a very convincing genjutsu-- that couldn’t be, nothing would fool the Sharingan.

She turned back to the bridge and saw something unthinkable. Instead of dissipating, like a clone should after being killed, the body was _getting up_. Slowly, one hand after the other, the corpse brought itself to its knees. Only… it didn’t look like a corpse. Karin wasn’t sure what to make of the body. Sakura looked fine, aside from her bloody neck. In fact, she looked better than fine, her skin seemed to glow and she seemed more vital. But she wasn’t the same Sakura as before, either. Her cloak had fallen to the ground, sliced when she fell, and her neck sported heavy black lines. In fact, her whole skin was lined with black markings, all across her face and arms. At the center of her forehead, a purple diamond glowed, and her green eyes shone with confidence. 

Sasuke looked as taken aback as Karin felt. He was usually quite good at hiding his emotions, but this seemed to have taken him by complete surprise. He actually took half a step back in shock. 

Sakura-- the real Sakura, the one standing on the bridge-- met Karin’s eyes and smiled. Then she drew her fist back and punched the bridge. It was as if someone had set off a bomb. The ground almost exploded, rubble flying everywhere, and most of the bridge immediately collapsed. As the rubble fell into the water, it created a huge splash, water encircling the space where the bridge used to be. The river was overcome with massive waves that rippled down on both sides, and a shockwave created enough wind to blow back Karin’s hair. What massive strength this girl had! She hadn’t even used a jutsu or anything, just one punch could do all that. She couldn’t see Sasuke through the dust and rubble, but was sure that it would take more than that to kill the infamous Uchiha. 

Karin was feeling good enough to sit up, and as she did she made eye contact with Sakura’s clone. The clone was looking at the bridge in concern, and bent down to pick Karin up again. 

“It’s okay, I can walk.” Karin said, feeling at the wound on her side. Sakura slapped her hand away with a stern expression, and lifted her by the elbow to assist her in getting up. Chastised, Karin allowed herself to be taken care of. “We need to get away from here,” Sakura said in a lovely, soothing voice, looking back up at the former bridge where the dust began to settle. “It’s not safe.” Karin wasn’t about to argue with a woman who’s fists leveled bridges, so she nodded her head. They only made it a few steps down towards the river bank when the sound of chirping birds began to echo through the gorge. Karin turned back to see Sakura, standing on top of a pile of rubble, facing Sasuke’s chidori head-on. Sasuke, for his part, looked furious: he was scowling, and his eyebrows drew a shadow over his eyes, making him look even more intimidating. The light from the chidori played violent shadows across his face, and the missing-nin looked downright menacing. 

He lunged at her with unparalleled speed. One minute he was standing across from her on the rubble of the bridge, the next he had his hand through her chest. She looked pained for a second, her mouth opening into an “o” shape, but quickly recovered and grabbed his arm and squeezed. Karin heard a sickening crack. 

The clone that was helping her move just chuckled.“Bad move, _Sasuke-kun_ . You got close enough for me to grab you.” His _hand_ was through her _chest_ , how was she laughing? Hell, she hadn’t even cleaned the blood off her neck. 

Sasuke grit his teeth, clearly in pain. Then Sakura front-kicked him in the chest, so that he catapulted backwards and fell back into the shallow riverbank. Medic Sakura - that’s what Karin had decided to call the clone - nodded sagely and said, “That’ll be a couple ribs broken.” Karin was really starting to love this woman. 

Sasuke lay splayed on his back amidst the rubble and the rushing water. He got up smoothly, as if nothing was wrong, but Karin noticed he was favoring his right shoulder, and his left arm hung rather loosely from his side. Sasuke shook the water out of his bangs, glaring at his opponent. Sakura seemed to be giving him time to recover, as she stood across from the last Uchiha, calmly dusting herself off. Karin had never seen someone act so… flippant around the avenger. Sure, the woman was taking the battle seriously, but she also seemed to lack the anger and desperation of one of his usual opponents. Sakura was… more level-headed than that, Karin supposed. She wondered if this steadfast serenity came from growing up around Sasuke and bearing witness to his embarrassing moments, or whether it was just an inherent quality this Sakura possessed. Or perhaps it was all a front she was putting on to rile up Sasuke. If that was the case, it was certainly working. 

Noticing her reluctance, Sasuke didn’t waste any more time in getting up. He grit his teeth and spit out blood. “If you’re mocking me, you’ll regret it.” 

“I’ve done no such thing. Now how about you take me seriously so we can finish this thing?” Sakura replied. 

“You want serious?” Sasuke smiled darkly. “I can give you serious.” Sharingan red and black whirled, and he unsheathed his sword. Sakura unstrapped a much smaller blade from her shin, shifting into a fighting stance. The two exchanged blows at a speed that Karin almost couldn’t follow. Sakura was good, parrying every hit that came her way with a speed that couldn’t be natural. Chakra-enhanced movements, perhaps. But one thing was clear; as good as Sakura was, the Uchiha was better. He struck from all angles, leaving no openings and attacking with lightning infused speed. At some point (again, without hand-signs?) Sakura had summoned an earth clone to assist her in parrying Sasuke’s speed. But even the two of them together were no match for the unstoppable force that was Sasuke Uchiha. At least, not when it came down to kenjutsu. 

Sakura seemed to realize this too and tried to create some distance between the two with paper bombs. But the Uchiha wouldn’t let her get away that easily. He pressed her and she had no choice but to fall back to the riverbank. With one foot in the river, Sakura, still parrying Sasuke’s strikes, summoned three water clones in addition to her earth clone. The four each ran in seperate directions. Sasuke took out the one heading north immediately with a well placed fire jutsu, and sent an arc of lightning curving towards the one heading west. 

While his attention was split between her and the clones, Sakura put her hands together and murmured “Kawarimi.” 

Sasuke looked even more enraged at this development. She had replaced herself with the one in the south, the furthest one. Sakura just looked at him, head on, and weaved together a series of hand signs. His sharingan spun and he looked at her with disgust. 

“Genjutsu? On me? Who the fuck do you think I am?” Her foolish plan inspired one of his own. If it was genjutsu she wanted… then it was genjutsu she would get. 

With her facing him head one, blatantly looking into his eyes, he bared his teeth and whispered “Tsukuyomi.”

Sakura froze, a blank expression on her face. Karin stared between the two of them. Sasuke looked triumphant, despite the blood trickling from his eyes. The battle was over. 

Until it wasn’t. Sakura recovered, shaking her head a little before putting her hands on her hips with a smirk. “Genjutsu, Sasuke? On me? Who the fuck do you think I am?” He looked at her, utterly shocked and unable to process the sight that lay before him. Sakura Haruno, a kunoichi with little to no potential, no bloodline, and no clan had just broken out of his Tsukuyomi. Bloody eyes stared in disbelief, and he clutched his head in pain. _This couldn’t be real_.

“Don’t you remember what our dear sensei said, Sasuke-kun?” She said sweetly, smile filled with teeth. “I’m a genjutsu type. You’re sharingan tricks won’t work on me.” 

Karin turned in awe to the medic beside her. “How did she- how did you- do that? It’s impossible to break through the Tsukuyomi.”

The kunoichi smiled, a genuine one this time. “Not impossible, just… very improbable. One has to have a certain cerebral makeup you see, which allows the chakra network to fluctuate irregularly. It’s more of an unintended side effect than an actual trait, but forensic specialists believe…” she trailed off after noticing the confused face of her patient. “Sorry, sometimes I get too scientific. I just can’t help myself!” She laughed and scratched the back of her neck awkwardly.

“No, it’s alright,” Karin said. “It’s not the jargon I’m confused by. I’m a medic too, a scientist to boot. But I’ve been studying the Sharingan and it’s abilities alongside Orochimaru and even I never came up with a way to break through the Tsukuyomi.”

Sakura nodded her head seriously. “Basically, I have a mood & personality disorder. It’s not a bloodline, or a jutsu, and it can’t be achieved with any amount of training. It’s just part of who I am. And as a side effect, it allows me to break free of any jutsu that attempts to control the chakra pathways in my mind, as long as they don’t know what they’re in for. That includes any and all genjutsu that I’ve been exposed to, sharingan or otherwise, along with outliers like the Yamanaka clan jutsu.” Finishing her explanation, Sakura bent over and did another diagnostic. “Your vitals are stable. Let’s move you to someplace safer.”

Karin nodded her head in amazement. This woman was _scary_. It took all her willpower to not fire off a thousand questions at her, but she figured now was not the best time. The Uchiha and her real self were still exchanging blows, after all. 

If Sakura had been hoping to weaken his resolve with that stunt, it seemed to have backfired. He attacked her with even more ferocity than before, although one of his eyes was now squeezed shut, probably due to the amount of blood coming from beneath his closed lids. Using Tsukuyomi seemed to have hurt him more than her.

The sound of chirping birds returned, lightning wrapping around the Uchiha’s non-broken hand. But this time, instead of just enveloping his hand, the lightning extended into a long blade. He took several steps forward before changing his step into a run, and charged at the smaller girl. Her eyes narrowed, and she made a few quick hand signs before jumping onto the rubble before her. Chains of water wrapped around Sasuke, but he broke through him without a second thought and continued his charge. 

He didn’t manage to skewer her this time. She dodged the lightning blade, weaving through his lethal strikes with practiced precision. Medic-Sakura nodded approvingly. 

“A good medic always knows how to dodge. That was the first lesson that Tsunade-shishou drilled into my head.”

Sakura was agile, but Sasuke was fast. They danced around each other, Sakura just a little too quick to dodge and Sasuke just a little too quick to give Sakura an opening to strike. Karin watched in awe as they weaved in and around each other. She didn’t think anyone was capable of matching Sasuke, much less a girl. Someone like me could never, Karin thought bitterly. This girl was probably a genius from birth, with some kind of incredible bloodline that let her regenerate like that. She would never be as strong as Sakura. 

As if sensing her thoughts, the medic smiled knowingly at Karin. “You know, my parents were merchants. I’m the first shinobi in my family.” Karin just gaped at her, unable to process what she’d just heard. Sakura looked up at the battle, expression hardening. “Never give them the benefit of underestimating yourself.” 

The Sakura on the battlefield stomped her foot on the pile of rubble, creating a cloud of dust and further destroying the remnants of the bridge. She used the split second in which Sasuke’s attention was diverted to form a couple of hand signs. A giant water dragon rose from the river and roared its way over to Sasuke. He simply unsheathed his blade and carved the dragon in half as it passed through him. The dragon split in two, but then reformed into two seperate water constructs. They enveloped Sasuke, and he realized the water was charged with electricity from his own lightning blade. The dragons imprisoned him in a dome of water, and his body involuntarily convulsed as it was hit with a near-fatal electrical shock, or at least, what would be fatal for any normal human being. He glared at her through the dome of water, Sharingan eyes glinting menacingly. Sakura seemed to accept that he was neutralized for now, and turned her attention to Karin. That was her first mistake. She leapt over to assist with the healing, and within an instant, Karin, Sakura, and her clone were surrounded by black, black flames. Sasuke looked almost deranged, standing in the middle of a half dissipated water bubble, mist rising from his form. His right eye was bleeding now. He spoke one word. 

“Amaterasu.” 

They were consumed. The clone was the first to go, an earth clone that cracked into dust. Sakura tried her best to shield Karin from the flames, but she still felt the black fire nipping at her heels as they fled. She looked at Sakura’s face, and it was clenched in pain. She had taken the brunt of the damage, and her left side was still aflame. Even with her life on the line, this woman still wanted to save her? She rushed them to the river, depositing Karin on the opposite bank before rolling into the water. Karin’s eyes widened as she realized the flames weren’t going out, even when doused with water. The Amaterasu; it was an attack she wasn’t too familiar with. Sakura seemed to realize this too, but she summoned a wall of water anyway. It drowned herself and Sasuke’s ring of fire in so much water, but she only managed to slow the spread of the fire. Sakura grit her teeth and did something inconceivable. She took a kunai to her arm and hip, which were still on fire, and skinned them. With the removal of the skin, the flames stuck to the surface, freeing her from the pain of the black fire. Karin stared in shock as she tossed aside a chunk of her arm, still on fire, and regrew half the limb. Sasuke, too, seemed surprised. His face went through a range of indistinguishable emotions as he watched her discard a piece of herself before settling on what Karin recognized to be anger. Sakura recognized it too, but if she was intimidated by the Uchiha she didn’t show it. Instead she just grit her teeth in pain and braced herself for what was to come. 

Sakura moved first. She spat bullets of water at him as he chased her with his black flames. She didn’t let herself get caught in them again. The two circled each other ever cautious. Emotions ran high, and if Sakura was starting to lose some of her composure, Karin didn’t blame her for it. The kunoichi spun through the air with grace, and with every landing her boots cracked the earth below her. The sheer strength of this woman fascinated Karin, and if they both lived through this she would try to convince her to show her some techniques. With that kind of force on her side… no man would ever touch her again. She pictured snapping the fingers of each man who had laid his hands on her, one by one, and smiled through bared teeth. Karin stood, hand bracing her abdomen but she felt no pain. She felt lively, and her head was finally clear of all the fog. Sasuke’s eyes had made everything cloudy, had made it hard to think, had made it seem like she had no choice but to follow him. She remembered the joy that rose to her throat when she’d first heard Orochimaru was dead, followed by a feeling of disgust. The things she had done for that man were unforgivable. As were the things he had done to her, she thought as she examined the many, many bitemarks lining her arms and legs. Karin knew she didn’t deserve to be saved. But this girl, this kunoichi had saved her anyway. 

Karin was snapped out of her reverie by a loud rumble. Two walls of earth had appeared on either side of Sasuke, and were closing in on him. He sliced the air with his sword, and lightning appeared in an arc. It sliced through the walls of earth like a knife through butter, but the rubble buried him nonetheless. Sakura approached it cautiously, unsure if the great Sasuke Uchiha had run out of tricks. Karin extended her senses and found a huge amount of chakra amassing beneath the rubble. 

“Sakura, get back!” Karin screamed, realizing what he was about to do. She ran at her fellow kunoichi. Sakura turned her head in confusion, and was slammed into by Karin just as the world erupted in flame. 

The resulting explosion would have impressed even Deidara. Fire (the regular kind) had burned through the river and the rubble surrounding it. A great pyre was in the center, and smoke filled the air. Neither Sakura nor Karin could see beyond it. Karin coughed, trying not to inhale the smoke. Her back was charred from the explosion. Sakura stared in horror at the flames licking her back, summoning a gentle wave to douse them. 

“Why would you do that?” Sakura cried frantically. 

“You saved me, didn’t you?” Karin replied. “I’m a chakra sensor. I could sense that he was building up fire chakra for an attack.” Sakura huffed. “It was the least I could do.” Karin added, glancing down at Sakura’s arm, which was burnt as well. “You’re hurt too.” 

Sakura shook her head. “Don’t worry about me.” She said as she healed Karin’s back. Karin held up her hand to Sakura’s gritted teeth. 

The pyre burned bright amongst the rubble of the bridge. Both women tensed as they each sensed movement coming from the flames. Instead of Sasuke’s angry form, a massive indigo fist emerged and punched them both, sending them flying backwards into the forest. Karin blacked out for a moment as her head hit the trunk of a tree. 

When she came to, Sakura was fighting a half-formed chakra construct, with Sasuke at its center. Its aura pulsed purple, and Karin sensed that this technique was deeply imbued with a lot of chakra. She wracked her brain for any information she had on this thing, anything that could give Sakura the edge. Orochimaru had made her read all those notes on Uchiha techniques…

“Susanoo!” Karin cried triumphantly. “The strongest ability available to those who have awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan…” She trailed off, realization dawning. Sasuke was really, truly, serious. He wanted to kill them both. And as strong as Sakura was, Karin wasn’t sure if it would be enough to stand in the way of hundreds of years of Sharingan bloodlines. 

Turning her attention to the battle, Karin saw that Sakura was indeed lagging. She had massive strength, and was able to parry each one of the contruct’s blows, but she had already used up a lot of chakra, and it was clear that healing Karin had not been part of her plan. She no longer had the easy swagger of her earlier battle. Make no mistake, Sasuke was not looking too hot either, but he was currently protected by a massive spiritual avatar of pure chakra. Karin wracked her brains for a solution, any way she could help disable the Uchiha long enough for Sakura to land a blow. 

Karin was no combatant. But if there was one thing she had an edge on, it was chakra. It would take a skilled medic to be able to infuse chakra, and although Karin wasn’t regrowing limbs and recovering from slit throats, she was a mighty talented medic herself. If she could just draw Susanoo’s attention away for a moment…

She rolled up her sleeve and bit her arm, healing the rest of her wounds. She could barely move before, and regeneration of that level would have taken too much out of her, but with Sakura’s help she was feeling good as new. Karin may not be collapsing bridges with her punches, but since she was no longer sporting two head injuries, a stomach wound, and chakra burns, she had enough chakra to pull something off. Something that would give Sakura the edge. Karin wove through the trees until she reached the center of the battleground, where Sakura was holding off Susanoo. 

“Distract him!” She yelled at Sakura. “I have a plan!” 

Sakura spared her a glance before two giant fists came down on her. She was hit, and sunk straight into the earth. Karin bit her lip and her stomach sank. Then two spikes of rock came up from the ground and impaled Susanoo’s arms, pinning him to the ground. Susanoo roared in anger. 

Sakura came up from the earth behind Karin. “I bought us a minute. What’s your idea?”

Karin smiled. “How would you like a chakra infusion?” 

________________

Kakashi raced through the woods, Naruto and Sai at his side. Naruto was just barely holding back tears, and Sai’s face was dark. They had been preparing to move camp when Sai came to them, his demeanor unusually serious. 

“Sakura’s gone after Sasuke.” Was all he said. 

Kakashi’s whole body tensed in fear. While it was true, she had grown stronger, there was no way Sakura could win against his former student. He was simply too powerful. Naruto looked horrified as well. All Kakashi could say was “When.”

“I found her bedroll empty this morning. Last night, she and I… talked about some things. I believe I may have goaded her into going after the traitor.” Sai’s face was usually so passive, but Kakashi saw a hint of remorse in his eyes. Naruto looked furious. 

“What the hell is wrong with you? You know how Sakura feels about the bastard, why would you… how could you.. how could you!” Naruto yelled, grabbing the taller boy by his shoulders and shaking him. 

“What are those?” Kakashi asked, pointing at the scrolls in Sai’s hand. 

“I found them in her tent.” 

Kakashi took the scrolls from Sai and quickly scanned them. One was the report they got that stated Sasuke had been sighted near the border of Rice Country. That was probably where Sakura was going. The rest appeared to be Orochimaru’s research, the ones they had confiscated from his last base. Kakashi’s eyes widened. 

“Naruto, let go of him.” Naruto turned to his teacher, his whiskers already more pronounced, and his eyes orange. “He goaded her-”

“From the looks of these scrolls, Sakura has been planning this a long time.” Kakashi said, handing them to Naruto. They were filled with research on the Uchiha, and Sakura had written notes in the corners, stating potential weaknesses and strategies. 

Naruto’s eyes widened. “Why would she…”

“For you.” Sai said. “She is doing it for you.” 

“No.” Kakashi shook his head. “She’s doing it for herself.” 

Kakashi could feel the battle before he could see it. An immense amount of chakra was being used, that much he could ascertain. In the distance, he saw a giant indigo form uprooting tree after tree, as if it was looking for something. He had only read about such a thing. 

“Susanoo.” He whispered to himself. Sasuke wasn’t holding back. 

The chakra construct uprooted another tree and aimed it at the distance. But the tree seemed to retaliate, wrapping its branches around the monster’s hand and holding it in place. It seemed as if the forest was coming to life, as tree after tree pinned Susanoo in place. 

“Mokuton…” Kakashi whispered, stopping in his tracks. He knew Sakura had been working with Yamato and Tsunade recently, to “revive an ancient jutsu”, but he’d never begun to imagine… that this is what his third student was capable of. She had no bloodline ability, and wasn’t experimented on like Yamato, so how could it be possible? All she had was an earth and water affinity, and a lot of determination. He almost found himself laughing. The cherry blossom seed had bloomed into a tree. 

Naruto turned back to see his teacher standing in shock. “What are you doing, we have to save Sasuke!” He said. This jolted Kakashi right out of his stupor. 

“Sasuke? We’re here to save Sakura.” He responded hesitantly. 

“You haven’t sparred with her recently, have you? She’s going to murder him if she doesn’t hold back!” Naruto yelled behind him, and continued running in the direction of the battle. Kakashi shook his head. All this time, and he was still underestimating her. Sai had also stopped beside him, and put a hand on his shoulder. 

“If it’s any consolation, I’m fairly certain they’re both going to murder each other.”

Kakashi turned to Sai in exasperation. “Why on earth would that be any consolation?” Sai just shrugged. Kakashi ran his hand through his straw-like hair. 

“It’s going to be one hell of a reunion.”

________________

It had taken years. Years of training and dedication to arrive where she was today. Day’s spent training her body, night’s spent working at the hospital, while every moment keeping enough focus to create the seal on her forehead. Taking every single one of Tsunade’s punches, breaking almost every bone in her body just to be healed so she could break them again. Spending days in the library doing research and deciphering old scrolls, cracking codes while filling out the Hokage’s reports, and learning jutsu by herself in the grueling heat when Tsunade was busy. Sakura had poured her blood, sweat, and tears into her training, and it was finally paying off. 

The day Naruto left was the day Sakura asked Tsunade to train her. It was an awakening in more ways than one. Sakura had never been the special one, the chosen one, the genius. No teacher saw anything in her until Tsunade. She was the one who was pushed aside, told to do push-ups while the boys sparred, told she should take a break, told she shouldn’t push herself too hard. Sakura was tired of being underestimated by the world. She had been put on her team to balance out the strong personalities of Naruto and Sasuke, she was supposed to be the meek girl, the obedient girl. The mediator. Sakura was tired of being the mediator. She wanted to be the fucking star, or at the very least shine bright enough to make the next Hokage think twice before they put a girl with “no potential” on a team with two monsters. 

Sakura used the skills she had, honing them and perfecting them. She was already an impeccable paper ninja, so she put her research skills to good use and dug up every single piece of information she could on the Uchiha. She followed a paper trail that led to a bunker underneath the Uchiha compound, which turned out to be filled with encoded notes on hidden techniques. Once she had everything memorized, she worked on counter-techniques. She got Kurenai to teach her genjutsu, and together they discovered her ace in the hole; Inner Sakura. She would wrangle water and earth jutsu out of Kakashi in exchange for buying him lunch. She practiced. She prepared. 

She hadn’t expected the arrival of Yamato and Sai. Sai was helpful enough in teaching her some water jutsu, but Yamato was the one who helped her put that to good use. He was the first male teacher she had that hadn’t looked past her. He was the one who saw her mastery over earth and water, and asked her if she’d ever tried the wood release. Sakura had gaped at him at first, then smiled. She had no bloodline, no tailed beast, but goddamn was she determined to succeed. She worked with Yamato and Tsunade- what better teachers than the granddaughter of the first Mokuton user, and the only known Mokuton user left? 

Sheer will and impeccable technique, along with two good teachers, allowed her to succeed. Wood was complex, it had the stubbornness of earth with the life and fluidity of water. Sakura first tried summoning each release in her hands and then putting them together, but it was more complicated than that. The chakras didn’t click like puzzle pieces, they needed to be woven together in a precise pattern. It was difficult and complex, but once she did it Sakura felt like the wood was meant to bend to her will. It felt so _right_. 

As she bounded between the trees, Sakura conjured that feeling again. The stubbornness of earth, the life of water. Weave them together. She brought her hands into the Snake sign and let herself become a part of it. The tree's branches were her own arms, and she was wrapping them around Susanoo, restraining it. She let the forest come to life and entwine the construct, pinning it in place. _Perfect_ , said Inner. 

She was right. The plan had gone almost perfectly. Sure, she hadn’t expected to have to save a dying girl, but she could roll with the punches. She had goaded Sasuke into exhausting his reserves, by staying calm (that was _hard_ ), and beating back his techniques one by one. After all, the trick to fighting Sasuke is to beat him mentally, to keep your cool while wounding his pride. And Sakura was sure she’d dealt a serious blow. As the trees wrapped around Susanoo, she strode forward and lept onto the head, where Sasuke resided. He was struggling, his limbs bound by the trees, and he looked at her, enraged through bleeding eyes. 

_Now, to break through_. 

Sakura summoned all her strength and punched. Spidery cracks ran through Susanoo’s helmet. She punched again, and again, and again. The indigo chakra gave way before she could throw her fifth punch. 

Sasuke struggled, still bound by the trees. The great thing about Susanoo (well, for her) was that the user couldn’t move if the construct couldn’t move. He had essentially restrained himself. Sakura smiled. 

“You’re welcome.” She said. Then she drew her fist back and punched him in the face. 

________________

Naruto stopped in the clearing created by his teammates' battle. The chakra construct was collapsing. The wood around it gave way, forming a bridge to the ground. Sakura emerged onto the bridge, dragging Sasuke behind her. 

Naruto felt his spirits sinking as she reached his position. Sasuke wasn’t moving. 

“Is he…” He choked out. 

“Dead?” Sakura said, meeting his gaze. “No, he’s just unconscious. Not that the bastard doesn’t deserve it. He slit my throat, you know that?” 

Naruto’s eyes widened, trying to process everything that had happened. Sakura was okay, Sasuke was… pretty beat up, but okay. They were all together…

“You did it Sakura!” He said, jumping up to give her a hug. “You brought him back!” 

“Ow, get off of me you big lug!” Sakura yelped as Naruto tackled her. She used to be taller than him when they were genin, but he’d hit a big growth spurt, meanwhile she’d barely grown two inches. “Don’t make me tickle you!”

Naruto reluctantly removed himself, and looked down at Sasuke. “That bastard looks pretty beat up.” 

“So was I, until I healed myself. Oh, by the way, Naruto, meet Karin Uzumaki. She’s like, your third cousin or something.” A bespeckled redhead emerged from the bushes behind Sakura, looking around nervously. “She helped with the healing, and gave me the chakra infusion that allowed me to win the battle!” 

Karin walked over nervously. Naruto looked stunned, then immensely happy. Before he could introduce himself, Sai and Kakashi jumped down from the trees. 

“Looks like quite the reunion indeed.” Kakashi said, nodding warily at the newcomer. Sakura narrowed her eyes slightly, face turning serious at the appearance of her former teacher. Then she smiled sweetly. 

“Now that the battle is over, maybe you should reconsider who your favorite student is, Kakashi.” She said, then turned to hand Sasuke over to Naruto. She walked past him without another word. 

“I don’t think so, Sakura.” The girl stopped in her tracks. “After all, I may not have acted like it… but you were always my favorite.” He didn’t see her smile, this time genuinely, and any reply she may have had was drowned out by Naruto’s indignant yelling, but he hoped she knew he was proud nonetheless. 

________________

Sasuke dreamed of that night. The night when he left the village and knocked Sakura out cold. Only this time, after he knocked her out and thanked her, she turned around and said; “You’re welcome. Then she punched him in the face. 

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, ok. 
> 
> Some things to establish. Prepare yourself for a lot of salt b/c I'm angry. 
> 
> \- How did Sakura beat Sasuke, you may be asking... well, the answer is prep. She fucking studied her way to the top!! She researched as many of his techniques as she could, and thought of plan after plan to counter them. She trained for years to be able to master exactly what she needed to master in order to bring Sasuke back home. That's not to say she did it all for him... she did it for herself and for Naruto too. She wanted to prove to herself that she was powerful, and she wanted to prove that to her team as well. 
> 
> \- Karin. Okay, so this my take one Karin. She is not "in love" with Sasuke, she is infatuated with him, because he is strong and can protect her. I think she learned that mindset from Orochimaru. It's not very healthy, but unfortunatly it's what was going through her head. Also, on a completely unrelated note... isn't it interesting how Karin was very hostile towards Sasuke at first, but then he looked at her when they were in a room alone and she was all of the sudden lovey dovey? Interesting how the Sharingan can influence a person's state of mind and make them do things they wouldn't normally do... inch resting. 
> 
> \- Sakura masters the Strength of a Hundred Seal a little earlier. Not by much, but I always felt that the "three years" thing was kinda arbitrary anyway. And that seal?? It is heeeeellla powerful. if Kishi had let her go off, think about all the ways she could have fucked up Sasuke. Chidori through the heart? No problem I'll just regrow it. Lose an arm to a sword? Still not a problem. Like my girl is a Bad. Bitch. give her the credit she deserves. 
> 
> -Sakura has an earth and water affinity. Let her learn, idk... a single fucking jutsu? like she doesn't have to be a goddamn master of a thousand techniques but at least let her have one or two up her belt. I'm convinced Sakura actually knows hella water/earth jutsu and just never uses them because Kishimoto hates women!!! 
> 
> \- "You're a genjutsu type, Sakura." Thanks for that little tidbit of information, Kakashi, are we going to do anything with that? Oh, she's breaking out of the Yamanaka mind meld, a feat that was previously unheard of? Inch resting,, where are we going next? Oh, you're just going to abandon that completely because it's 'Sasuke's thing'? Got it, got it. I'm actually just going to go over here and scream, if that okay? Then I'm going to write thousands of fanfics in which that amounts to something :) 
> 
> \- Mokuton. I had Sakura learn (not master, learn) the wood release technique under Yamato. Why? well... let's go back to interrogating Kishimoto, shall we?  
> ....So you're telling me. You had a girl named Sakura with cherry blossom motifs sprinkled all around her, who was taught by both the granddaughter of the first Mokuton user and the only remaining Mokuton user, who had a water and earth affinity, and who was in desperate need of a power up... no Wood Release. No wood release? Excuse me? Sir what was all that imagery for? Sir why was Sakura constantly shown clasping her hands together in a manner very similar to the snake handsign, which by the way is the handsign Yamato and the First use to control wood, and that all amounts to nothing?? Where's the flavor in this? I don't taste anything... 
> 
> In conclusion Sakura is a bad bitch with a ton of potential to be as powerful if not more powerful than her teammates. Fight me in the comments below if you wish, I am ready!
> 
> P.S. The title can be interpreted in a couple different ways. Sakura was, literally Karin's lifeline, considering how she saved her life. But by bringing Sasuke home, she was sort of his lifeline as well. After all, she was the one who threw him a 'lifeline' before he left the village as a genin, the one who saw him say goodbye and told him to stay. This is sort of the continuation of that, wherein Sakura brings Sasuke's ass home by force. And I honestly think the comeuppance was deserved. In a way, she kind of saved all of team seven by bringing Sasuke home. Which also means that she saved herself.


End file.
